6.1167, Sum: Verbal complex without IPP

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1167. Mon Aug 28 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  123
 
Subject: 6.1167, Sum: Verbal complex without IPP
 
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---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Mon, 28 Aug 1995 15:33:44 +0700
From:  H.A.Y.Wolf at stud.let.ruu.nl ("Henk Wolf")
Subject:  Sum: Verbal complex without IPP
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Mon, 28 Aug 1995 15:33:44 +0700
From:  H.A.Y.Wolf at stud.let.ruu.nl ("Henk Wolf")
Subject:  Sum: Verbal complex without IPP
 
To: The Linguist List, Lowlands-L
 
Some time ago I posted a query re the occurence of verbal clusters without
IPP in West-Germanic lects with prefixed participles. I am grateful to
everyone who replied: Reinhard Hahn, Bruce Donaldson, Elke Hentschel, David
Powers, Hans Broekhuis, Jan Odijk, Carla Luijks, Ewald Lang, Leslie Barrett,
Roland Hinterhoelzl and Ocke Bohn.
 
In my query I quoted the following sentence:
 
Und niemand hat mich schreien gehoert
(and noone has me yell-INF hear-PART)
 
Several respondents confirmed that they allow for this construction, but
most of them added that they considered it 'unusual', 'obsolete',
'substandard' as compared to the constructions with IPP. Others found it
absolutely normal, though.
 
Bruce Donaldson remarks that this construction is usually possible. He says
that according to Durrell (1983) "This is usually regarded as substandard,
but it is encountered in writing". Other non-IPP clusters that Bruce
Donaldson mentions, are:
Du hast den Brief nicht zu schreiben gebraucht
Er hat sein Herz klopfen gefuehlt
Wir sind schwimmen gegangen
Du hast mir Vokabeln lernen geholfen
Die Mutter hat ihr Baby weinen gehoert
Ich habe Alexa tanzen gesehen
Er hat das Maedchen Deutsch lesen gelehrt
Er hat Altdeutsche Schrift zu schreiben gelernt
Ich habe ihn in Berlin kennengelernt
Ich bin jeden Tag spazierengegangen
Er ist auch letztes Jahr sitzengeblieben
Er hat seinen Kaffee stehen gelassen
But (!):
*Er hat ein Haus bauen gelassen
 
I suspect several of these examples should be analyzed as particle verbs,
as many respondents suggested. I would say that the Dutch cognate of
'kennengelernt', 'kennen geleerd' is marginal, but not entirely "out".
 
Roland Hinterhoelzl says about his Upperaustrian dialect that it shows an
almost complete lack of IPP, with only 'lassen' requiring an
Ersatzinfinitiv. This dialect also lacks the possibility of inverting the
highest verb:
 
Weil ich niemanden reden gehoert hab
*Weil ich niemanden hab reden hoeren/gehoert
 
David Powers mentions the following construction, which is grammatical in
his dialect:
Und niemand hat mich kennenlernt
He also allows for '... kennengelernt'
 
Hans Broekhuis and Jan Odijk mention the possibility that 'schreien' is a
nominal infinitive, in which case there would not be a verbal cluster at
all, but both also remark that such is not the most likely analysis, since
there is already a direct object present, namely the pronoun 'mich'.
 
Carla Kuijper cites the following IPP-less construction in Zuerich German,
from Cooper (1989):
 
das mir ire s Gnoosch haend gheulfe uufruume
that we her the mess have help-PART up-clear
 
Leslie Barrett points out that the verbs that can rather easily "resist"
(my term, HW) IPP are the perception verbs and, even more, 'helfen', 'lehren'
and 'lernen'.
 
Reinhard Hahn provided me with the following very interesting judgements:
 
?Stehen hat er seinen Kaffee aber nicht gelassen
 Stehen hat er seinen Kaffee aber nicht lassen
 
?Bauen hat er ein/das Haus aber nicht gelassen
 Bauen hat er ein/das Haus aber nicht lassen
 
 Singen habe ich Clara aber nicht gehoert
*Singen habe ich Clara aber nicht hoeren
 
References:
 
Durrell, M. (1983), 'Hammers' German grammar and usage', London: Edward
Arnold. (p. 262)
 
Eggeling, H.F. (1961), 'A dictionary of modern German prose usage', Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
 
Hentschel, E. & H. Weydt (1994), 'Handbuch der deutschen Grammatik', 2d ed.,
Berlin/New York: De Gruyter. (p. 68)
 
Kiss, T. (1994), 'Infinitive Komplementation', Tuebingen: Niemeyer.
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